


Not A Date

by Little Giant (Destini)



Series: Little Giant Week 2021 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Chaotic Neutral Udai Tenma, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29947023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destini/pseuds/Little%20Giant
Summary: Udai Tenma is the bane of Tsukishima Akiteru's existence.Tenma groans and Akiteru covers his mouth so he can’t hear the laugh. “No, no, no Aki! You don’t get it! That fish is an evolutionary disaster! Don’t you understand why it even evolved like that?”“No, but I’m guessing you’re about to tell me?”“Pollution!”“Ah, here we go.”
Relationships: Tsukishima Akiteru/Udai Tenma
Series: Little Giant Week 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202486
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26
Collections: Little Giant Week 2021





	Not A Date

The bane of his existence.

Udai Tenma was a little giant _nuisance_.

At least on his working days.

Akiteru’s phone buzzes in the middle of work constantly, the 8:29AM, 11:47AM, 2:05PM, and 4:50PM messages from the man all so ridiculously long and chaotic that at some point he stopped reading them. Instead, he exhales and waits to read them on the subway home when his mind is scrambled enough from work for the nonsense not to matter.

Tenma’s messages are all about completely different subjects that Akiteru can’t see how they possibly connect. He understands he’s a creative person, someone who has to stretch their imagination daily to make sense of the impossible and draw it on paper, but Tenma writes about zombies.

So why is Akiteru reading about how angry Tenma is over the fishing industry? Since when was he so passionate about the ocean? Akiteru isn’t even sure what “idiot fish” he’s talking about until he scrolls to see the attached an image of some sort of blue fish with four stringy legs that keep it standing tall over the ocean floor.

He gives a startled laugh, then steels his expression as heads turn toward him on the train he’s in.

Akiteru doesn’t bother responding to any of the four messages as he makes it home and shrugs off his bag, taking the time to eat his dinner leftovers and sort out the laundry he has to do and take a shower. He’s calm now, rolling onto his bed and giving a happy sigh before finally hitting the call button.

“Tsukishima! How was work?” a happy but groggy Tenma asks.

“Long.” And after a pause, “Like fish legs.”

Tenma groans and Akiteru covers his mouth so he can’t hear the laugh. “No, no, no Aki! You don’t get it! That fish is an evolutionary disaster! Don’t you understand why it even evolved like that?”

“No, but I’m guessing you’re about to tell me?”

“Pollution!”

“Ah, here we go.”

“Pollution is evil, and it’s making fish have worthless traits they shouldn’t have to adapt to. What about mammals? How long until they too have really ugly, extra limbs that don’t make sense to have?!”

“I don’t know.”

“W-well,” Tenma huffs, “I don’t either!”

“Uh huh.”

“Anyway! Do you want to go to a women’s softball match this weekend?”

He always does this.

The bane of his existence.

Because Akiteru has more than a little crush on Udai Tenma.

And Tenma, oblivious, always invites him on not-dates on the weekends.

**Literally Only One Week Ago**

Tenma’s the type of guy who doesn’t plan things for the sake of taking someone out on a date, but one goes on dates with Tenma often because he sees things and wonders if you’d like it. He books for events and ‘fun days’ and asks questions later.

“Hey, do you want to go to a brass jazz concert with waterworks this evening at the lake? Sorry, I forgot I bought tickets.”

And Akiteru, as the utter _simp_ he is, complains and complains but can’t bring himself to say no to the guy he’s been crushing on hopelessly for years.

He’s a romantic at heart, his fatal flaw that will bring him to an early grave if Tenma ever settles down.

Tenma asked Akiteru not to get off at the correct subway stop, asking to take a ‘scenic route’ he’d heard about once in a derailed _Sonic the Hedgehog_ fan forum.

Akiteru had asked why he was even there, Tenma couldn’t recall.

“I’m not sure what scenery we’re supposed to be seeing here,” Akiteru chuckles.

The trees have lost all their colors, but the sidewalk is painted pink from dead cherry blossoms that had all but vanished from the earth.

“Um… I can’t say I’m very confident either, but let’s give it a chance since we’re halfway there, anyway.”

“Not much of a choice,” Akiteru laughs.

“It’s fun just to walk with you, though,” Tenma hums. “I mean, look at all these couples.”

Akiteru has avoided looking, but he reluctantly follows Tenma’s gaze to the families and couples of men and women, eyes lingering a second longer than usual on two women who hold hands and smile. No one bats an eye.

He glances over at Tenma, whose hands are in the pockets of his hoodie now. Akiteru sighs and mimics him. He suddenly feels pretty cold.

**Present**

Akiteru curls into his covers, trying to force the warmth to envelope him. “And why a women’s softball match, Tenma? Huh?”

“I know it’s not volleyball, but I have this scene coming up where it’s a giant fight and there are lots of bats and so I had to get salmon and—”

“H-huh?”

“Ahh,” Tenma sputters. “Wait, I guess I should go back up. Sorry. Um, I was walking to the fish market.”

“The place you hate.”

“I hated it before today, I’ll have you know.”

“Mhmm. You needed salmon, so you were walking to the fish market.”

“Well, _I_ didn’t actually _need_ any salmon.”

_What happened to the bats?_

“Er, I’ll explain that later,” Tenma continued. “Anyway, there was this woman there with a Red Terriers team bag and so I asked her about it.”

“You walked up to a woman to ask about her softball bag?”

“You’re judging me pretty hard right now,” Tenma laughs.

“Go on.”

“So, she told me about her softball team and asked if I wanted to go to a game so I said yeah and she told me to bring my girlfriend and gave me two free tickets! Isn’t that cool?”

“Girlfriend,” Akiteru deadpans, trying to gloss over the fact that Tenma just walks up to pro athletes.

“Obviously, I didn’t have one. So I asked you.”

“What is ‘obviously’ supposed to mean in this context?”

Tenma snorts and Akiteru listens to him move around. “Well, yeah. I don’t think a girlfriend would let me dress the way I do, and I’m pretty gay anyway.”

Akiteru freezes. Did he? Did he _just_?

“Anyway,” Tenma continues yet again, “I wanted to see some professional bat swinging, and that’s how I ended up here. And, darn, I just realized I never got that salmon. I’m in so much trouble with my neighbor. _Shitttt_. I should sleep to get up early and go again, then. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“T-Tenma you’re _gay_?”

The sound of Tenma’s movements pause. Shuffling approaches the phone before he says, “Er… Aki, what do you mean? You make it sound like that’s news to you. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m pan.”

“Tenma you’re _pan_?!”

“Okay, jokester,” he sighs dramatically, although Akiteru is not joking whatsoever, “See ya tomorrow. And hopefully this weekend. The game’s on a Sunday. Bye!”

Tenma doesn’t wait for him to respond before hanging up—not that Akiteru even could. He’s staring at the light of his phone dim until there’s nothing but black and silence around him.

Tenma likes men?

Tenma likes men.

What the hell.

Akiteru shows up to the Red Terriers versus Bee Queen softball game as a complete, confused mess. For the rest of the week leading up to Sunday, he desperately tried to recall every single interaction he ever had with Tenma to figure out how he didn’t know his best friend was pansexual. That his best friend, the guy he’s been in love with for years, might return his affections.

It could change everything.

Or nothing at all.

All these years without him knowing probably means Tenma has no romantic interest in him. Akiteru feels completely defeated in a brand-new way he never thought possible.

“Aki-san!”

Tenma’s cheerful voice, as always, grounds him in the present. He manages a half-hearted smile for his friend, who is wearing his usual jeans and plain sneakers, but today has a colorful, psychedelic jacket instead of black.

“What’s up with… this?” Akiteru chuckles, motioning toward Tenma’s top.

“I’m hoping it’ll get the attention of that softball player,” he grins. “I doubt she’ll have time for me, but maybe she’ll humor me for a couple minutes.”

He’s too cute. Ugh. Akiteru rolls his eyes and they find their seats easily. The tickets the player gave Tenma are pretty good and near the front, far more expensive than what Tenma or Akiteru would’ve paid on their own.

“So, where’d you get that thing? I’ve never seen it before,” Akiteru asks, realizing he’s staring.

Tenma hums, eyes glued to the players doing warmups on the field. “Ah. This morning.”

“…What?”

“Yeah, I traded it with that black hoodie with some teenager I passed in the convenience store.”

“ _What_?”

Akiteru gapes, horror sinking in. Tenma’s had that hoodie since _high school_. They have _memories_ in it—he was wearing it when Akiteru still hated the Little Giant, when he and Tenma became friends. Akiteru wore it when he had that fever once, Tenma had cried into it with full-on sobs after his grandmother passed and they’d hugged for hours, Akiteru had fallen _in love_ with Tenma with that damn hoodie on.

And now it’s gone, traded for a tacky jacket and a possible 5-minute interview with a softball player whose name Tenma didn’t even know.

“Aki?”

“W-what the hell is _wrong_ with you?”

Tenma’s shocked gaze falls on him and Akiteru falters. He’s confused why Akiteru is even angry, and that’s far more upsetting. “I’m. Sorry. I have to go. I’m sorry.”

He hurries to stand and grabs his bag, trying not to cry over a stupid sentimental jacket that obviously didn’t matter to Tenma like it did to him.

“Akiteru!”

Akiteru ignores him and runs away from his feelings like he always does.

It’s the first weekend he’s not out with Tenma. The texts have been limited; the usual string of consciousness traded for empty pleasantries Akiteru knows Tenma has no interest in.

It’s Saturday morning and Akiteru curls deeper into his couch, trying to listen to the drama that plays on the screen, but he can’t remember what just happened in the last scene. They’re all yelling and melodramatic, and the romantic music that plays with slow-motion longing makes him feel sick.

He can’t bring himself to even dig for the remote in the cushions.

Tenma is so frivolous that Akiteru wonders if he has no problem breaking friendships and moving on. He’s a fun, albeit awkward guy. People would lucky to be friends with him, even if he doesn’t realize it. He doesn’t seem to do much introspection with his head in scripts and skies.

His phone rings and Akiteru frowns when he looks over and sees who it is.

Tenma.

He should answer. They’re best friends, right? Akiteru’s such a jerk.

“Hello?” he mumbles.

“Aki!” Tenma nearly screeches back, out of breath from the other end.

“Tenma… Is something wrong? Why are you yelling?”

“I haven’t talked to you all week! S-sorry, I just. Ah, hold on…”

“Are you running?”

“N-no. No, I’m… just… ah… Not anymore. Done. Just catching my breath.”

“Okay…” Akiteru exhales as he listens to unsteady gasping. Weirdo. He wants to kiss him breathless. Hopeless.

“Okay! Um, you’re not mad at me, right?”

“…No, Tenma, I’m not mad at you.”

“Nice. Um, so you wouldn’t mind seeing me, right?”

Akiteru hesitates. “Er…”

“I mean,” Tenma stutters, “Like, i-if I really wanted to see you _right now_ , you wouldn’t turn me away, right?”

“What’s going on?”

Tenma clears his throat and Akiteru hears knocking.

“… _Tenma_.”

He doesn’t respond and Akiteru groans, throwing off his covers and rushing to the door, putting his free hand on the handle. “If you’re behind this door, I’m going to be upset.”

“H-how upset?”

Akiteru flings the door open and Tenma jumps, nearly dropping his phone. “Ah!”

He’s wearing a different but similar black hoodie and takes one look at Akiteru’s glare before he turns to run. Akiteru grabs the hood and Tenma gags before ceasing his struggling.

Akiteru hangs up the call and drags him inside his apartment, closing the door behind them before letting Tenma go.

“Sorry. _Sorry_ ,” Tenma rasps, “I just wanted to see you but I-I was afraid to ask and so I just kinda showed up but then I thought that was probably _rude_ but since I already stopped by, I figured why… not… Aki?”

“You’re so stupid.”

Tenma’s soft hands reach up to cup his cheeks as tears fall down them. Akiteru can’t take looking at him and closes his eyes. He relaxes into the warm palms that don’t shy away from him, even if Akiteru’s at his grossest. Bed head and red eyes.

“Aki?” Tenma whispers.

“Mm.”

“Can we just stay in today? Can I just be with you?”

Akiteru sniffles and blinks through his tears until he can finally see Tenma staring up at him, eyes clear and determined.

“And why’s that, Ten?”

Tenma hums, brushing away stray tears before lowering his hands away from his face. “It’s a secret.”

“A _secret_?”

“Yeah.”

With a sigh, Akiteru nods and lets Tenma take off his shoes before they return to the couch. He digs for the remote after all, embarrassed all over again as the drama continues. “Sure, Tenma, we can stay home. I guess it’s a date.”

“Yup.”

Akiteru finds the remote but nearly drops it, head slowly turning to see Tenma smiling at the television. “ _What_?”

Tenma returns the gaze, confused, as his hand slowly slides over Akiteru’s. “What?”

The bane of his existence.

Udai Tenma was a little giant _nuisance_.

And, apparently, this is their 30th date.


End file.
